Modern marriages are more complicated than those of the past, despite what your parents will tell you. In India, an entire generation has seen technology uproot traditional channels of interaction, and the domains of domestic responsibility have also become less defined with more women contributing to the financial goals of the family and more men willing to pitch in with housework.

We conducted a survey to find out the financial implications of married life for young, urban Indians – what they spend on, what they save for, and what they want the future to look like financially. Our sample consisted of 150 people who filled in our questionnaire across seven metros and tier one cities. All of them were college educated or at least held a diploma. Roughly 69% of the sample was aged between 26 and 30 years, while 25% was aged between 31 and 35 years. The remaining 6% was aged between 22 and 25 years.

Early on, the survey produced an interesting finding: only around 23% of the sample argued about money. About 27% said that work-life balance was the touchiest subject at home, and in a statistic that shouldn’t surprise anyone, roughly 30% said they argued about domestic chores.

Priorities aren’t very straight when it comes to financial planning. Around 34% of our sample listed securing their child’s future as their top financial goal, while 33% listed increasing personal savings as their number one financial ambition. Surprisingly, only 25% of the sample thought that a house was worth saving for – something that might horrify the previous generation. And, despite what social media timelines might suggest, not all couples want to wander the world. Only 6% listed travel as their main financial goal. Retirement is not such a priority for this generation with only 2% having the desire to save up for that eventual milestone.

When we asked them the most important financial resource they wanted to give their children, an overwhelming 63% opted for a high-quality education. Only 17% wanted to give their children a house and just 10% wanted to leave them money. The power of knowledge, it seems, is the most important legacy that this generation wants to leave the next one.

To secure the financial futures of their children and families, couples today have many options, from traditional instruments like savings accounts and fixed deposits to newer modes like tax saving mutual funds and online insurance plans. Life insurance plans, in particular, have changed with the times and now offer much more flexibility for people who want to secure the futures of their dependents in case of unexpected events. So, no matter what kind of future couples aspire to build for themselves and their children – education, homes, or holidays – there are ample financial options to help them.

HDFC Life Click 2 Protect Plus is an affordable online life insurance plan with four attractive options and flexible payments schedules. It allows policyholders to increase their insurance cover on key milestones in their lives, like marriage and childbirth, which is a great advantage for couples starting their married life. For more information on this plan, including how it can help financially protect growing families, see here.

This article was produced on behalf of HDFC Life Insurance by the Scroll.in marketing team and not by the Scroll.in editorial staff.